Campaigning is at fever pitch ahead of Sunday’s Upper House election in Somalia. The East African nation is set to have its first ever upper house of parliament.
Though it wont be a popular vote – as authorities here already ruled out any possibilities of free and fair polls due to security concerns by Al-Shabaab militants.
“It’s 54 member House of Representatives only representing regional administrations. It’s a new thing to Somalia and its part of the agreements reached and clearly spelled out in the provisional constitution. Senate is basically regional states having representatives in the federal level aside from the federal parliament”said Abdirahman Sahal, Independent Analyst
One hundred 35-clan elders drawn from several Somali clans will in the coming days converge in Mogadishu to nominate a 14,000 member electoral college.
The college will pick new parliamentarians who in turn will pick a new president by end of October. It’s an election that has been hailed as a milestone by Somalia’s international partners.
In a statement, the international community said that it would contribute through the deployment of electoral experts and observers across regional states in Somalia and as the political landscape prepares for a major showdown later in October
In the streets of Mogadishu this is how informed locals were of the upcoming polls..
“All we know is that the senate will be handpicked by respective regional states whereas the federal parliament will be selected by clan elders based on clan formula” said Nimo Hassan Abdi, Mogadishu Resident
“Most of the young people don’t understand the senate, its composition, structure and power. We know parliament picks a president, we don’t see the need of another powerful legislative branch in the current political landscape” said Mohamed Warsame
Mogadishu Resident
But concerns are already being raised – for years; politicians have been embroiled in political bickering that has on occasions disrupted government activities. On several occasions, differences between the president and prime minister has seen parliament take a leading role – and has impeached a number of PMs in recent years
“The senate is likely to create a power struggle in the country. The executive and legislature have been known to differ strongly before. Based on the current mechanism, we don’t see the need to have another powerful arm of the legislature without authorities addressing the current differences between its other arms” said Abdirahman Sahal, Independent Analyst
Elsewhere, Al-Shabaab has warned it will disrupt the process – citing the vote as illegitimate. Nevertheless, it’s an election that many here in Somalia will be keenly following -several candidates are also contesting for top job including the incumbent, his Prime Minister as well as a former president. And for the first time ever – a female candidate is hoping to take charge of the East African nation
